The full sized speeder bike which has been in planning over the last few months gets underway. This project is purely for fun and once completed it will join all the other projects in the archive.

The speeder bike will be built from fibreglass, wood and metal. The design will include many parts from contacts in the aircraft breaking industry to aquire authentic looking pieces. The decission was made right at the beginning that this had to be a one off, first class replica with removable panels which would reveal engine workings, wires, hoses, cables and other structural and mechanical detail, similar to the restoration of the 'Alien Resurrection' robot currently being done in another section of this site.

The project will be documented on this page so keep looking to see the latest developments.

Firstly a model kit found on ebay was made to aid reference. This gives a fairly good idea of scale and detail by comparing it to pictures in the star wars archives book where its described at 71 x 325 x 69cm long. measurements can be scaled up from the model. (look closely at the model as its resting on a piece of set dressing from young anakins workshop on Tatooine)

The first stage of the build is a wooden framework. This is what the skin of the body will sit onto. This picture shows the front half of the framework. Access holes and cutaways have been put into the flats to reduce weight and allow for fibreglassing the inside of the skin when that time comes. This has been accurately scaled up from the model. 

The MDF framework is virtually finished. This is strong eneough to hold the weight of all the fittings and attatchments that will be added later. This also needs to hold the weight of a rider. Next stage is fabricating the fibreglass skin.  

Thick card was then laid over the MDF framework giving a smooth surface for the fibreglass. A couple of layers of fibreglass was then applied giving a firm shell, which is ready for the final filling and sanding.

The fibreglass shell now has a smooth surface in car filler. This took more time than anything so far as all the surfaces had to be completely correct to the model. The next job is to mark on and build up where the handlebars etc.. join to the body.

Air vents, scribe lines and control panel start to take shape.

Seat area primed and ready for the base of the seat to be made. This will be formed by layering and glueing mount card up to the desired thickness. The layers will then be laminated in fibreglass for strength and filled/sanded. The result will be strong eneough for upholstry.... 

 Next picture to follow soon.....